1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather resistant cabinet. More specifically, the present invention relates to a weather resistant cabinet for containing electrical equipment, which cabinet is easy to manufacture and assemble, and which cabinet provides convective heat dissipation for the electrical equipment contained within.
2. Description of the Background Art
Various weather resistant cabinets are known in the existing arts. For example, in the telecommunications field, electrical equipment located in the field, such as a junction terminal on a phone pole or a supplemental cellular base station on a bridge underpass, is contained within a weather resistant cabinet.
In the example of the supplemental cellular base station, one known weather resistant cabinet is the TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) electronics enclosure. The TDMA enclosure includes six aluminum extrusions parts and miscellaneous sheet metal parts. The various parts are overlapped and joined to one another. In joining the parts, a special epoxy may be used, and/or a hole may be drilled through the overlapped portions and a simple pop rivet installed. Alternatively, a riv-nut may be installed in an inner hole and a threaded fastener passed through an outer hole to attach the overlapped inner and outer holes, and thereby the inner and outer overlapped portions.
The TDMA enclosure has several disadvantages. First, many components are required which bears on the manufacturing cost. Second, these many components must be assembled which bears on the assembly cost. Third, the interconnection between the component parts tends to leak moisture into the enclosure which leads to electrical malfunctions. These malfunctions necessitate service operations and replacement of electrical equipment.
The leaks occur because the rivets, over time, loosen. Further, because of the many component parts, each overlap is considered a leak risk due to manufacturing tolerances. Also, the thermal expansion rate of the various components will differ and, over time, the overlaps and rivets will deteriorate and develop leaks.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a weather resistant cabinet having a limited number of component parts which are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, wherein the component parts may be easily assembled to form the cabinet, and wherein the interconnections between the component parts do not leak moisture or debris from the environment into the interior of the cabinet.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a weather resistant cabinet having component parts which are simple in design and relatively less expensive to manufacture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a weather resistant cabinet having component parts which may be easily assembled to form the cabinet.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a weather resistant cabinet having component parts which do not leak moisture or debris from the environment into the interior of the cabinet.
These and other objects of the present invention are fulfilled by providing a cabinet for housing electrical equipment comprising: tubular housing and said first cover; and at least one fastener interconnecting said first cover and said tubular housing while compressing said first gasket wherein said first cover includes a frame having a third opening and a panel, in the form of a ribbed heatsink, attached to said frame by dip-brazing so as to close said third opening in said frame.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.